From Draft NOtices, July-September 2025
— Oren Robinson
In line with Trump administration policies, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has taken steps to remove all programs that emphasize diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in military recruitment. DEI bans have also affected the choices of names assigned to military bases and ships and led to books being banned from military academy libraries.
When these policies enter the discussion in U.S. corporate news media, they are often framed as “trans bans” or “attacks on DEI,” which may prompt a knee-jerk response among progressive groups and individuals to oppose these measures. But as communities resisting militarism, how should we think about Trump's restrictions on enlistment and the military's wholesale abandonment of DEI programs?
In July 2017, the first Trump administration began its initial attempt to end military enlistment by transgender people, which went into effect in 2019 with a ban on new trans recruits.
In 2021, the Biden administration overturned the policy, and in 2022, the CIA released a new recruiting advertisement doubling down on embracing the language of diversity, equity and inclusion in recruitment. The ad consisted of a personal testimonial by a CIA employee:
“I refuse to internalize misguided, patriarchal ideas of what a woman can or should be…I stand here today a proud, first-generation Latina and officer at CIA. I am unapologetically me.”
In February 2025, the second Trump administration acted swiftly to again end trans enlistments, as well as purge DEI programs from all branches of the U.S. military.
In answer to the question of how we should respond, in February, trans author and activist Dean Spade recorded a short public video message:
“Anti-imperialism is central to trans liberation. The U.S. military is not a good job for trans people, it's the largest source of violence in the world, and the world's biggest polluter . . . Sexual violence is rampant in the U.S. military, the military is also a dangerous and disabling job, and vets are not given the benefits they are promised.
“U.S. military recruiters can lie to you, and they do. Real liberation is not becoming a soldier. Real liberation comes from our communities caring for each other…including giving each other real information about the US military.”
In recent months the Department of Defense has authorized military personnel to work alongside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and ICE has also deputized prison guards in their latest wave of racist family separation raids across the U.S. As we witness inspiring community opposition and self-defense in response to this, perhaps military recruiters will be forced to scrape the bottom of every last barrel.
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Information sources:
- Queer Trans War Ban
- “Pentagon directs military to pull library books that address diversity, anti-racism, gender issues,” Lolita C. Baldor, AP, 5/9/2025.
- “Hegseth announces USNS Harvey Milk is being renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson,” Anne Flaherty and Chris Boccia, ABC News, 6/27/25.
This article is from Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (https://www.comdsd.org/).
